The four drivers of Artificial Intelligence

An updated version of Marc Andreessen's famous quote, "Software is eating the world" probably is "AI is eating software." We tend to think of AI in incremental ways, and we need to urgently change that thought process because our approach to AI will demarcate the difference between linear thinking and transformational thinking. Most organizations want to use AI to cut costs and do the thing they are already doing faster and quicker; this is an incremental approach to AI, whereas we need to focus on the next-level use of AI, that exponentially transforms the way we have been doing things thus far by creating new systems. For example, Amazon Go (Amazon's retail store) isn't using AI to simply remove the role of the cashier, but it is designing a new retail experience that is data and information-driven. Thus, instead of simply putting a layer of AI on top of existing processes, Amazon Go is changing the average grocery-shopping exercise into an experience-driven activity that is all about data, understanding people, behavior and design layout. Similarly, the objective of driverless autonomous vehicles is not merely to eliminate the cost of the driver, but to change the way we travel and redesign the entire transportation industry as well as create ripple effects in the e-commerce and delivery industries.